Hangar's "Rent": An Absorbing Celebration

Just as gritty as it ought to be, Hangar Theatre's regional premiere of the Broadway blockbuster, "Rent", captured a Saturday night Ithaca audience, and wouldn't let go.
And no wonder! "Rent" earned a Tony Award for Best Musical and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1996. It ran on Broadway for some twelve years, and has since been seen in numerous road tours, revivals, and now, in regional theaters.

Based on the classic Puccini opera La Boheme, "Rent", written and composed by Jonathan Larson, chronicles a year in the lives of a variety of artists living and working in New York City's East Village in the early 1990's. Despite struggles with poverty, drug addiction, violence, artistic disappointment, and the scourge of AIDS, "Rent's" characters are bolstered by their love for each other, and beliefs in their artistic visions.

Having seen and reviewed this show in other venues, I can unequivocally state that the single element that makes the Hangar production of "Rent" so special and involving is the theater's performance space. It's three-quarter-round view of a Lower East Side tenement neighborhood, replete with various balconies, alleyways, and interiors, lends a great sense of physical involvement of the audience that is impossible to reproduce on a "flat" proscenium stage. As if arising out of the audience itself, characters enter the action down aisles and up pipe scaffolding, onto performance platforms for several scenes.

A further element that underscores an immersion into this lifestyle is how the single set functions for a variety of locations, but with all of them being within a somewhat cloistered world, with only telephones as a link to the "outside". The microcosmic effect underscores an isolation, despite the location and worldliness of the characters.

Given the premise and characters, the show screams "Youth!." Thus, a necessary component is a cast of talented actors who never look (and most probably aren't) too close to the age of thirty. And there are an abundance of them-some 25, including a 10-member volunteer "community ensemble".

Of particular note is the excellent vocal work by which, opera-style, the action is carried forth. With a rock score that's second to none, some 40 musical numbers, reverberate the Hangar's walls with both individual and ensemble excellence. Among these are my favorites such as "Rent", "Light My Candle", "Santa Fe", "I'll Cover You", "Over the Moon", and "Take Me or Leave Me".

Hangar's "Rent", directed and choreographed by Devanand Janki, is an engaging and challenging experience that does what theater should.

Details: "Rent" produced by Hangar Theatre, Cass Park, Rt. 89, Ithaca.
Runs from August 6-23. For tickets and information: (607)273-4497 and www.hangartheatre.org

Performance length: Two hours, 45 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission
Attendance: Capacity (Shows have been added due to demand)
Family Guide: Adult themes and language-- OK for mature high school.